Author
Topic: How to lock rudder down (Read 238 times)

Sorry - I now see what its going to take to lock down my 23 rudder - totally sure its the main reason for my weather helm - even with just the jib going up wind. Found the little hole for a pin - Compac says some people are using wood so it shears off - I will see if I can find any wood that small diameter thats pretty strong. Or use a metal pin and dont go aground!! Easier said than done in western Florida.

You could use a plastic license plate bolt rather than a wood dowel as a sheer pin. Reusable and with a plastic nut, secure.

The wood will swell when wet and will be tough to remove it. Plus the swelling will damage the cells in the wood and will create a looser fit when it dries out.

The lift handle (from Com-pac) that Potcake Boy mentioned is going to be a much bigger improvement and 1000% easier to operate and lift. You'll want to lift it out of the water when docked else stuff will grow on it.

Do a search on this site on the word "handle" and you'll see the feedback on it.

I dont have the lift handle - just a rope and cleat. Does this handle lock the rudder down when in use and then allow for it to release in a grounding? On my 14 I had a handle that tightened the rudder in place when down but Gerry at Compac says this wouldnt be strong enough for the 23.

I need a metal pin strong enough to hold when beating up wind and weak enough to shear when necessary - dream on Kip.

the plastic license plate bolt sounds good - dont know if they are thin enough to fit in this very small hole - but looking at plastic nuts and bolts is a good idea - I can always drill the hole bigger Thanks again

local hardware store had both the right size wood dowels and plastic screw bolts and nuts! So this worked out so much easier than I thought. Thanks for all the suggestions. BTW the license plate screws I found were not long enough.

On my Sun Cat I used a nylon plastic bolt with a nylock nut. The rudder was an upgrade from the original metal plate to a foil but it used the original upper part of the rudder that came with the boat. It was intended to use a down haul line to keep the rudder down but that simply did not work when beating in windy conditions. The Nylon bolt worked great. The reason for the nylock nut was so that I could just put the nut on finger tight and it would stay put and prevent the bolt from falling out. I didn't need tools to pull the pin. The rudder already had a second hole for a locking pin, I think original but maybe the P.O. drilled the rudder.

One time I was sailing in some skinny water and began dragging in some soft mud. The bolt didn't shear but when I hauled out to trail home I found the bolt had nearly sheared it was 1/4 of the way through the bolt. I always carried a half dozen in my boat box but that was the only time I had to replace the bolt. I never did a hard grounding.

A very inexpensive method to keep the rudder all the way down and still have it kick up if needed.

I sprang for the Compac hold down bracket but found that the round bar stock would bend a bit allowing the rudder to kick back a bit. Note: My rudder is a wood foiled blade that I made and the fact that it floats didn't help matters. I had a local welder who is excellent in stainless steel weld a small truss on the back of the bracket and this past summer it worked great. I've also cut the top of the rudder blade allowing to project forward and out of plumb. I have a totally neutral helm which isn't all that desirable but the good news is that I've completely eliminated weather helm from the boat! This past summer she was much faster than in the past but a neutral helm is not good. She wanders a bit but when the tiller is let go, she still rounds up. Wish I had photos of all this...probably hard to visualize.

The rod portion of the the lift handle is bowed/bent to allow flexing when the rudder is forced which causes the tab to release from the bracket on the rudder head and allowing the rudder to swing up. If the rudder is not held firmly in the down position it may be that the rod should be straightened until there is no slack when the rudder is down and the tab engaged. I mounted a flat piece of aluminum with a notch on the aft end on top of the plastic piece to provide a better hold for the rod. No more disengaging while sailing.

If you spring for the new style rudder you may as well make this or a similar modification initially. Without it you will get nuisance kickups primarily when the tab on the lift bar slides off sideways.

Tom L - I have a few of those plastic bolts and some wooden plugs that just need a tiny bit of sanding to go in - I am pretty sure those will have more strength in a grounding - hopefully not too much. I am going with plastic first. Of course, now that I have the solution, I will never run aground.